Tag Archives: Brooklyn

Cortelyou Road Crocus Watch

Posted on by
Reply

Update 2008.03.06: The Crocuses are blooming!

Despite this morning’s brief snow flurry, Spring is nearly upon us. That means that the 1,000 Daffodils and 400 Crocus which dozens of neighborhood volunteers planted along Cortelyou Road last fall will soon bloom. The crocuses are already up and may bloom within the next two weeks.

This is a good time to remind businesses, building owners and managers, residents and visitors along Cortelyou Road that tree pits contain live plants. They should not put bags of garbage in them. This is especially important now that the plants are coming up.

Most building and business owners do not use the tree pits as dumpsters. I’ve only seen it done twice in the past two months. But all it takes is one thoughtless dumping of garbage, and the whole season of growth in that tree pit will be destroyed.

Beyond not damaging what’s growing there, any care that owners and businesses can take to keep tree pits neat and clean will make a big difference. Keeping the tree pits clear of litter is the single most effective thing they can do. Just like graffiti and broken windows, keeping after trash shows that people care for the area, and are watching out for it.

Over two dozen people turned out to help plant the tree pits last fall. That’s a big turnout for something that was organized very informally. This shows that residents value the new streetscape along Cortelyou Road. Studies have shown that people spend more time, and are willing to spend more, on commercial streets that have green, growing things. Keeping the tree pits clean and free of trash is not just neighborly. It’s good business as well.

Related Posts

Tree Pits are not Dumpsters, November 18, 2007
The Daffodil Project Plantings on Cortelyou Road, November 4, 2007
1,000 Daffodils for Cortelyou Road, October 27, 2007
The Daffodil Project: Grief & Gardening #5, November 26, 2006

Links

The Daffodil Project

Clinton Hill Blogade

Posted on by
Reply

Updated 2008.01.21: Added links to participants’ reports

The Clinton Hill Blogade, by Luke (missing from photo)
Clinton Hill Blogade, January 2008

Today I attended the Clinton Hill Blogade, an ongoing series of more-or-less monthly meetups of Brooklyn bloggers. 17 people attended today’s event. A good turnout, considering the windchill was in the teens today.

Robin Lester of Clinton Hill Blog, Lesterhead and Flickr, hosted and coordinated today’s event at Frank White Cafe on Atlantic Avenue.

The next Blogade will be February 10 in Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill, hosted by Eleanor Traubman of Creative Times.

Blogade

Clinton Hill Blogade, January 2008

Clinton Hill Blogade, January 2008

Clinton Hill Blogade, January 2008

Clinton Hill Blogade, January 2008

Frank White Cafe

Frank White Cafe, 936 Atlantic Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn

Frank White Cafe

Clinton Hill Blogade, January 2008

Frank White Cafe

Tempus Fugit

Related Posts

Flickr set

Links

Brit in Brooklyn
Brooklyn Optimist
Clinton Hill Blog
Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn
Reclaimed Home

Two Flatbush Churches Receive Grants

Posted on by
2

Flatbush-Tompkins Congregational Church, Dorchester Road between East 18th and East 19th Street, Ditmas Park Historic District
Flatbush-Tompkins Congregational Church

Four Brooklyn churches are among the 66 religious properties statewide that received preservation funding from the New York Landmarks Conservancy.
– Four Brooklyn Churches Receive ‘Sacred Sites’ Grants From Landmarks Conservancy, Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Two of the four in Brooklyn are in Flatbush.

Holy Innocents Roman Catholic Church, on Beverly Road between East 17th and East 18th Streets in Beverly Square East, was awarded a Robert W. Wilson Sacred Sites Challenge Grant Pledge of $40,000 for the restoration of its copper roof.
Holy Innocents Roman Catholic Church, East 17th Street

Holy Innocents Roman Catholic Church

Flatbush-Tompkins Congregational Church in the Ditmas Park Historic District was awarded a grant of $10,000 for window restoration. FTC has got a hell of a lot of windows. I’m sure that $10K doesn’t begin to scratch the surface. I suppose it’s probably for their stained glass, rather than these.
Flatbush-Tompkins Congregational Church, Ditmas Park

Here’s a view from the inside.
Interior, Flatbush-Topmkins Congregational Church

The other two are St. George’s Episcopal Church of Bedford-Stuyvesant, which received $6,000 for stained glass restoration, and St. Philip’s Episcopal Church at 334 MacDonough Street in Stuyvesant Heights/Bedford-Stuyvesant, which received $10,000 for the restoration of its tower, masonry and roof drainage.

Links

New York Landmarks Conservancy
Holy Innocents Roman Catholic Church
Flatbush-Tompkins Congregational Church

Monday, January 21: MLK @ BBG

Posted on by
Reply

This Monday, January 21, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is hosting their Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration:

Celebrate the spirit of Dr. King at BBG! Join us for this touching and beautiful performance of spirituals featuring the Great Day Chorale, led by founder and director Louvinia Pointer. Performances are at 11 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Plant lovers can enjoy a special tour at 1 p.m. highlighting the plants of Africa and the Caribbean in the Steinhardt Conservatory.

Admission to the gardens is free for non-members on weekdays through February.

Volunteers still needed for Park Circle Mulchfest this Saturday and Sunday 10am-2pm

Posted on by
Reply

Update 2008.01.06: I’ve added a post with photos from today.
Update 2008.01.05: I have photos from my stint at Park Circle today.
Update 2008.01.04: I will be volunteering Saturday and Sunday for as long as I can hold out. Hope to see some of you there!

Earlier today I called Volunteers in Prospect Park, (718) 965-8960, and confirmed that they still need volunteers for this weekend’s Mulchfest in Prospect Park.

Earlier this week, I posted a map of Brooklyn Mulchfest 2008 locations. The Park Circle location is closest to my neck of the woods. The current weather forecast calls for sunny partly sunny with highs in the mid to upper 40s on both days. Sounds like great days to be out and about, get in touch with new neighbors, and make new friends.

If you want to volunteer, just call the number above during the day on Friday. I know the coordinator from waaay back in the day, so tell her I sent you!

I’m going to sign up for Sunday, and possibly Saturday. Hope to see you around this weekend.

Brooklyn Mulchfest 2008: Locations and Dates

Posted on by
Reply

Update 2008.01.06: I’ve added a post with photos from today.
Update 2008.01.05: I have photos from my stint at Park Circle today.
Update 2008.01.04: I will be volunteering at the Park Circle location Saturday and Sunday for as long as I can hold out. Hope to see some of you there!

Mulchfest 2008 is on! You can drop-off trees at Greenwood Cemetery, 25th Street and 5th Avenue, starting today through January 11, any time between 8am and 4:30pm. Starting this Thursday, January 3 through Wednesday, January 16, you can leave trees curbside for pickup. Be sure to first remove all lights, ornaments, decorations, tree-stands and what-not before turning your tree into mulch.

The big event is this weekend. This Saturday and Sunday, January 5 & 6, from 10am to 2pm, you can bring your tree to multiple Parks locations throughout the city. This map shows all the Brooklyn locations for Mulchfest 2008. On-site chipping locations are indicated by the green tree icons. Drop-off only locations are indicated by the arrow&star icons.


View Larger Map

OTBKB reports reports that volunteers are needed for the Prospect Park locations. This seems like a good way to get out this weekend, meet some neighbors, and benefit your parks and community. To volunteer or for more information call (718) 965-8960 or email volunteers@prospectpark.org.

Starting today, January 1 through January 11, you can drop-off trees at Greenwood Cemetery, 25th Street and 5th Avenue, any time between 8am and 4:30pm.

Starting this Thursday, January 3 through Wednesday, January 16, you can leave trees curbside for pickup.

This Saturday and Sunday, January 5 & 6: 10am to 2pm, multiple locations.

Saturday, January 12: Chipping at Greenwood Cemetery, 25th Street and 5th Avenue.

Links

MulchFest 2008

First Snow, and Snowbirds, of the Season

Posted on by
2

Updated 12/6: Added Brian of Brooklyn, who has the most photos I’ve seen so far.
Updated throughout the day Monday, December 3, to add links to other blogs with photos of the first snow.

Slate-Colored Junco, Junco hyemalis hyemalis, in my Flatbush backyard
Slate-Colored Junco, Junco hyemalis hyemalis

We had our first snow of the season overnight. It was in the 20s all day, gradually warming, and it will be in the 30s tomorrow, so it will all be gone soon. I didn’t get any pictures of it myself, but others did:

A Brooklyn Life
Bay Ridge Rover
BK11201
Brian of Brooklyn
BushwickBK
Ditmas Park Blog
Gowanus Lounge
Loopweaver
McBrooklyn
Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn
Pardon Me For Asking
Self-Absorbed Boomer
Sustainable Flatbush

I didn’t get out of the house today. Too busy cleaning, getting ready for guests tomorrow evening. But I was keeping an eye on the bird feeders yesterday and today. The winter migrants are firmly established now: Juncoes, Chickadees, and a little crested one whose name escapes me at the moment. I was looking for nuthatches, my favorites, but I didn’t see any this weekend.

American Goldfinch, Cardulis tristis, in winter plumage. I think this is a female. Thanks to Flickr pals megankhines and PhotoJeff for the id!
American Goldfinch, Cardulis tristis, in winter plumage

Brooklyn’s Trees, a new Flickr photo group

Posted on by
2

Welcome, Festival of the Trees visitors! Go see the photos in Brooklyn’s Trees. If you like what you see, come back here and read about it, and check out my other posts on Urban Foresty and Trees in general.

Brooklyn’s Trees is a Flickr photo pool I started to “share and celebrate Brooklyn’s trees through photography.” The response has been great, and the submissions are beautiful and diverse.



I’ve adapted a definition of “trees” from Festival of the Trees:

“Trees” are defined as any woody plant species that regularly exceed three meters in height; exceptions might include banana “trees” which are not woody plants. We are interested in trees in the concrete rather than in the abstract, so the “cloud trees” at the intersection of Ocean and Flatbush Avenues, for example, are out.

Any photographs of or about trees in Brooklyn are welcomed, including those on our streets, in our parks, gardens, and other public spaces, and on private property. Young trees, dead trees, shadows or reflections of trees are all in the spirit of this group. Photos should be “safe” as defined by Flickr.

Basic Research: The State of the Forest in New York City

Posted on by
3

Updated 2007.11.13: Added direct links to all resolutions of the full report.

Thanks to a recent post on Save Ridgewood Reservoir, I learned of the existence of a comprehensive report on NYC’s street trees. This technical report was created by the Center for Urban Forest Research and addressed to Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe in April of this year. The report provides 72 pages of detailed, quantitative analysis of the state of NYC’s urban forest.

Relative age distribution of all NYC street trees by borough
Relative age distribution of all NYC street trees by borough

A find like this is a source of pleasure indescribable to someone who’s not already a tree-hugging geek such as myself. More important, it provides much-needed reference information for review and discussion of policy and planning, such as the Million Trees initiative, and DCP’s recent Yards Text Amendment proposal.

The city conducted a street tree census, Trees Count, in 2005-2006. The more accessible 12-page report [PDF] from that effort summarizes the numbers, types, sizes and conditions of street trees throughout NYC and by each borough. Here are some highlights for Brooklyn:

  • Number of trees: 142,747
  • Number of trees in 1995-1996 census: 112,400
  • %Change over 10 years: 27%
  • Most common street tree: London Plane, Platanus × hispanica (23.6%)
  • The top five most common trees account for 58% of the street trees.
  • Of Brooklyn Community Boards, CB14 tied with CB7 as having the highest percentage of tree canopy coverage.
  • Of Brooklyn Community Boards, CB14 had the third smallest increase of street trees, only 10%, followed by CB16 at 7% and CB17 at 5%
  • 38% of Brooklyn’s street trees have “infrastructure conflicts,” such as tree lights, choking wires and grates, and close paving.
  • The annual economic benefit of Brooklyn’s trees, considering property values, stormwater runoff, energy savings, air quality, and carbon sequestration, is $31,030,839.

Related posts

Center for Urban Forest Research
Preserving Livable Streets, November 7
Victorian Flatbush at risk from inappropriate zoning, October 23
Carolina Silverbell: One of a Million, October 9
State of Flatbush/Midwood, October 5
1M Trees in 10 Years, April 10
How Much is a Street Tree Worth, April 9
Landscape and Politics in Brooklyn’s City Council District 40, February 14
NASA Maps NYC’s Heat Island, August 1, 2006

Links

The full report – New York City, New York Municipal Forest Resource Analysis – is available as a PDF/Acrobat document from Parks and CUFR in different resolutions: smaller, lower resolution for online viewing, or larger, higher resolution to download for offline viewing or printing.

  • Read it now from CUFR (1.4MB) or Parks (2.4MB)
  • Save it for later from CUFR (13MB)

Trees Count (Parks)
Trees & Greenstreets (Parks)
Million Trees NYC
Yards Text Amendment (DCP)
Center for Urban Forest Research (CUFR)